TitleNews Online Archive

TitleNews Online Archive

First American Joins Gulf Coast Rebuilding Challenge

November 22, 2006

SANTA ANA, Calif. —The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) has made a $1 million investment as a charter depositor in The Gulf Coast Rebuilding Challenge, a collaborative effort that aims to raise $1 billion in corporate deposits to provide liquidity for community banks financing reconstruction efforts in hurricane-damaged areas along the Gulf Coast.

Organized by Promontory Interfinancial Network, the program, which will divide up corporate deposits into increments of less than $100,000 to ensure Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protection, will help approximately 300 community banks continue lending to homeowners and business owners seeking to rebuild in the storm-affected areas. First American joined Promontory and other corporate depositors General Motors Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Home Depot Inc., Bank of America Corporation and Fannie Mae in announcing the program in New Orleans yesterday. Promontory’s Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service (CDAR) will be used to track the subdivided corporate investments.

“First American has long-been committed to helping build stronger communities through sustainable homeownership, and nowhere in America is that need more pressing than in the storm-ravaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas,” said Lionel C. Savage, vice president of market development and industry relations for The First American Corporation. “For existing homeowners, so much of what was lost can never be fully restored, but the rebuilding loans made possible through this program provide the promise of a better tomorrow. And for those seeking to purchase their first home, the economic lift that entire neighborhoods will receive under this initiative will provide hope that the dream of homeownership will once again be within reach.”